Staff Reports
WC Monitor
1/15/2016
Negotiators reached a tentative agreement this week on a new contract for the Hanford Guard Union. Security forces have been working under contract extensions with Mission Support Alliance since early November. The latest extension, supplementing one that expired this week, will be good through a vote on the proposed new contract Jan. 26.
Negotiators for the Hanford Guard Union are recommending a “yes” vote. “There was good bargaining by both sides,” said union President Ed Pacheco. The proposed contract includes a $1,000 signing bonus. Wages would increase 2 percent for 2016 and 2017 and 1 percent for 2018 with no increase for the last two years, but an opportunity to reopen negotiations for wages in 2019. The wage increase would be applied retroactively to Oct. 25. Time and a half pay would be offered after 12 hours of work daily or 40 hours weekly, moving to double time for work after 52 hours a week and for certain weekend exercises.
Some of the main issues under discussion in negotiations have been a Mission Support Alliance proposal to change the guards’ work schedule and also concerns about disability retirement benefits, according to earlier statements by the union. The agreement would move shift rotation to eight, seven, and 11-week duration. Employee contributions to a supplemental income protection plan for employees who cannot meet required medical standards or physical qualifications would increase at 0.5 percent per year to a maximum of 4 percent in 2019. Language also has been added to the proposed contract to clarify when the plan may be used.
